Author: Toneyan Mark

BurlingtonFreePress.com, VT
Aug 23 2007

Montreal film fest opens today

Published: Thursday, August 23, 2007
By Susan Green
Correspondent

When Rebecca Gilman was a student at Middlebury College in the early
1980s, she reportedly witnessed events that would be fictionalized
more than a decade later in her play "Spinning Into Butter."

Now a Chicago resident, she has co-adapted that 1999 drama for a
movie with the same title starring Sarah Jessica Parker of "Sex and
the City" fame. The actress portrays a dean of students at a small
Vermont liberal arts school grappling with a racially charged
incident on campus.

The issue of hypocrisy is a crucial subtext in "Spinning," which will
premiere at the 31st Montreal World Film Festival, which runs
today-Sept. 3.

Gilman declined to do an interview. But, in a conversation this month
with an online magazine, based in her home state of Alabama, Gilman
recalls that her professional career was launched while still a
Middlebury freshman, when she won a nationwide young playwrights’
competition with a work about Krispy Kreme employees taking revenge
against their boss.

Gilman transferred to a college in the South at the end of her junior
year. "Spinning" opened at New York City’s Lincoln Center in 2000.
The film version, which was shot in Wisconsin, debuts at the Montreal
fest on Aug. 30.

It is among some 27 U.S. features and documentaries, a number dwarfed
by the more than 400 films of varying lengths from Canada, Latin
America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Oceana and the Middle East. In all, 70
countries are represented at the annual festival.

"There are so many things in Montreal that may not show up here
because they don’t find U.S. distribution," says Rick Winston, a
Vermonter who has been attending the festival for almost a decade
with various friends. "Sometimes, our process is arbitrary. We pick a
country — say, Burkina Faso or Uruguay — that we’ve never seen on
film before."

He and his wife, Andrea Serota, are always keeping an eye out for
motion pictures to book at their art house, the Savoy Theater in
Montpelier. "The Montreal focus is so international," he says. "It’s
a great immersion."

Festival audiences are faced with a proverbial smorgasbord of
multiculturalism that covers subject matter for every taste.

Is romantic comedy your bag? Then perhaps "I Do: How to Get Married
and Stay Single" is a good choice. This French release, with
Charlotte Gainsbourg, concerns the complications that ensue when a
bachelor hires a woman to pretend she’s his fiancee.

For those who enjoy history, "The Lark Farm" is an epic from brothers
Paolo and Vittorio Taviani about Armenians expelled from Turkey
during World War I. To toss even more nationalities into the mix,
it’s an Italian-Bulgarian-Spanish-French co-production.

A similarly complicated collaboration is apparent in "Los Cruces …
Poblado Proximo," from Guatemala, Norway and the Netherlands, that
tracks seven Central American guerrillas who defend a village
targeted for destruction in the 1980s by government soldiers.

The closing night selection, Claude Miller’s "A Secret," centers on
an unsuspecting adolescent in France who comes across clues that his
Jewish family is tied to the Holocaust.

A certain contemporary Republican presidential wannabe may take
exception to "September Dawn," about 120 people allegedly massacred
in Utah by top Mormon leaders on Sept. 11, 1857. Jon Voight, who’ll
be on hand at the festival for a tribute, plays a bishop in this tale
of religious fanaticism.

Political thrillers abound. "Morituri" takes place in Algeria during
the civil unrest of the 1990s and follows a police inspector looking
into the suspicious disappearance of a former government official’s
daughter. "The Last Queen of the Earth" tackles the immediate
aftermath of 9/11, when an Afghan immigrant stranded in Iran tries to
reunite with his family back home.

Stories that are of-the-moment command attention. "Kabluey," with
Lisa Kudrow, is a comic take on an inept guy helping his
sister-in-law raise two unruly sons while their father serves in
Iraq. "The Insurgents" provides a grittier approach to topical
material, specifically domestic terror. Four Americans, including a
disabled Iraq vet, plan to detonate a truck bomb. "War Made Easy," a
documentary narrated by Sean Penn, examines media coverage of U.S.
military interventions going back half a century.

The coming-of-age theme shows up in "Gangster High" from South Korea.
A studious boy and his soccer-mad friends are confronted by a gang.
"Dolls" sends a group of girls in the Czech Republic off on an
adventurous trip. "The Go-Getter," an American entry with Zoey
Deschanel, is also a road movie, in this instance about a teenager
looking for his long-lost brother.

For a more mature generation, "The Last Investigation" offers a 70-
year-old retired French cop who begins snooping around after a fatal
accident at an idyllic home for senior citizens. "Irina Palm" zeroes
in on Marianne Faithfull — a singer once best known as Mick Jagger’s
girlfriend — playing a middle-aged woman who works in a sex club to
raise money for her sick grandson’s operation. Talk about "As Tears
Go By"!

A quartet of films is linked to a universal passion: music. The
Greek-German "Eduart" considers a young Albanian man who dreams of
becoming a rock star but instead winds up implicated in a murder.
"Lilacs," directed by Pavel Lounguine, profiles Russian classical
composer Sergei Rachmaninoff. "The Satanic Angels," based on a true
case, centers on 14 Moroccan kids convicted of "shaking the
foundations of Islam" for their rock ‘n’ roll repertoire, hip
clothing and long hair.

Family dysfunction is always a popular genre. "The Influence," from
Spain and Mexico, explores the life of a disoriented woman whose
children must fill in as adults. "Foster Child" traces the worries of
a temporary caregiver in the Philippines delivering an abandoned baby
to adoptive parents at a plush Manila hotel.

And then there are the films that simply defy categorization, such as
"Puffball" from the United Kingdom, with Miranda Richardson and
Donald Sutherland. Directed by the legendary Nicolas Roeg ("Don’t
Look Now" and "Walkabout"), the saga involves an architect who moves
to a remote Irish valley, discovers she’s pregnant and learns that
her neighbors may be witches planning evil deeds.

This sounds a bit like "Rosemary’s Baby," but most savvy cineastes
are willing to embark on any vicarious Montreal journey into the
mystic.

MSNBC –
Aug 24 2007

Gymnast spurned by the Soviets welcomes chance to coach an American
champion

By EDDIE PELLS
Associated Press Sports
Updated: 4:08 p.m. ET Aug 23, 2007

The family sat in the airport, minutes away from its long-awaited
exodus out of a country that never felt like home.

But first, one more insult – this one in the form of a decision no
kid should have to make.

There were two boxes, one filled with the mother’s most expensive
jewelry and keepsakes, the other with the medals the daughter had won
during her successful but unappreciated gymnastics career in the
Soviet Union.

"Pick one,” the guard in the security line told Armine Barutyan and
her family.

It was the final slap in the face this young lady would endure before
she moved to the United States and became one of this country’s most
successful gymnastics coaches.

"Some of the things they did to me, I’ll just never understand,”
said Barutyan, now coaching American Ivana Hong and trying to take
her on the Olympic road she was never allowed to travel.

If life had been fair, Barutyan’s name might be as familiar today as
that of Russian superstar Svetlana Khorkina, or maybe even Nadia
Comaneci. She was that good. But things don’t always work out as they
should.

Part of that was because her heyday came in the mid-1980s – as in,
the 1984 Olympics, when the Soviets boycotted the Los Angeles Games,
a political payback for the U.S. boycott of the Moscow Games four
years earlier.

The other part also had to do with politics, but of a much more
sinister type.

Barutyan’s father grew up in Syria, her mother in Jerusalem. They
moved to Armenia after World War II to find a better life and get
closer to the family’s roots. But there, even decades later, the
Barutyans were always viewed as newcomers, outsiders.

And no matter how long you’d lived there, being Armenian in the
postwar Soviet Union was a disadvantage for anyone looking to get
ahead, especially in a promising sports career, the likes of which
Barutyan was embarking upon when she was young.

The USSR was a huge country, spanning 11 time zones and at least 15
nationalities. But diversity was not part of the message in the
Soviet Union of the Cold War era. Rather, the message was one of
unity and power. Part of the superpower’s strategy to present that
kind of front was to have Russian athletes with Russian names leading
the way in the biggest sports.

The Soviets wanted Barutyan to leave home and come closer to Moscow –
not that unusual, even now, in Eastern European countries where
centralized gymnastics training is common. More significantly, they
wanted her to change her name – trading the ‘yan’ ending common to
those of Armenian decent for a more Russian-sounding surname, like
one that ended with "iva” or "ina.”

"I didn’t want to do that,” she said. "That was my family. I didn’t
understand why they would want me to be someone else.”

She paid a steep price for her recalcitrance.

They took away her uniforms, her spot on the national team, even
dropped her in the standings at some meets for no reason – all to
send a message, and fully knowing it hurt the team every bit as much
as the teenager.

In the 1980s, Barutyan was performing tricks none of the other women
were even thinking about then, and that not many do even today.

Her dismount off the uneven bars included three back flips. Off the
balance beam, she did a double layout – two flips with her legs
straight.

The politically correct way to explain away the Soviet Union’s
shunning of her was to say that her moves were so advanced, so
unheard-of, that judges didn’t know how to react to the tricks and,
thus, never gave her the scores she deserved.

It’s not the story Barutyan tells.

Instead, she recalls times before international trips when officials
would tell her they had heard she had relatives in France. Wouldn’t
she like to move there and be with them? Leave her parents and her
home and never come back?

"I had no idea what to say to that. I had no idea what they were
talking about,” she said. "I was a teenager.”

There were times when, despite her top performances, she was left off
the national team for the biggest trips. Other times, she was taken
on those trips, but wished she hadn’t been.

Once, after the team returned from a big, international meet at which
Barutyan had finished second, the women had an audience in front of
an important Soviet government official.

"Who finished first?” the official asked.

"Svetlana Boginskaya,” the coach of the gymnastics program
responded, speaking of the great Russian gymnast, one of Barutyan’s
contemporaries, who went on to win four medals at the 1988 Olympics.

"And who finished second?” the official said.

"Not one of us,” the coach responded.

"I was Armenian,” said Barutyan, who was left off that Seoul Olympic
team despite being one of the USSR’s best. "Things like that happen
and it hurts. They make you feel like nothing.”

More than 20 years later, the memories from those insults still
sting. Barutyan talks about it much more calmly than her husband, Al
Fong, who met the star gymnast shortly after she moved to the United
States.

Barutyan had walked into a Los Angeles gym owned by a friend of
Fong’s. The friend was a pack rat and a gymnastics nut. He recognized
Barutyan immediately, and took her to his office to show her
magazines with her pictures and videotapes of her performances.

She had no idea any of that stuff existed. The Soviets didn’t want
her knowing that anybody else thought she was worthy of worldwide
media coverage.

"He called me and said, ‘You know who just walked in here?”’ Fong
said. "He said I had to hire her.”

Fong did more than that. He married her, too.

Over the last eight years, Fong and Barutyan have established one of
the best elite training centers in the country, Great American
Gymnastics Express outside of Kansas City.

"My wife and I are passionate about training Olympians,” Fong said.
"We call it our life’s work. Everything we do from the business we
have to the lifestyle we lead is driven around that.”

Call their house and if they aren’t home, Fong’s message on the
voicemail tells it all: "Sorry you missed us, we’re out, busy
training Olympians.”

In 2004, the duo placed Courtney McCool and Terin Humphrey on the
squad that took a silver medal at the Athens Games. Humphrey also won
a silver on uneven bars.

With the Beijing Olympics less than a year away, it’s Hong, a
14-year-old California native, who looks like their best prospect for
2008. Hong is a member of the U.S. team that’s going to Germany for
the world championships, which begin next Saturday.

Hong stands out to national team coordinator Martha Karolyi because
of, as Karolyi puts it, "the preciseness, the body lines, the
perfection of the technique and the execution.”

Much of that detail would look familiar to anyone who saw Barutyan
perform in the 1980s.

"Bela says, ‘Armine is like a mini-Martha because of the
perfection,”’ Martha Karolyi says with a laugh, recalling her
husband’s take on Barutyan. "If a finger is not in the right place,
it used to bother me. She seems to be just like that.”

Indeed, Barutyan takes pride in her work.

Which might explain why, when faced with that impossible choice of
taking either her mother’s most precious keepsakes or her own
gymnastics medals on her last trip out of the Soviet Union in 1989,
she wasn’t so quick to leave the medals behind.

The family had earned a pass out of the country because they had
relatives in Los Angeles. It was during a transition phase in the
Soviet Union – toward the end of Perestroika, the largely
unsuccessful attempt to restructure the Russian economy, and just
before a reactionary crackdown that again made it almost impossible
for citizens to leave.

Barutyan said had the family’s papers arrived two or three weeks
later, they would have been stuck in Russia for years. Instead, they
found themselves stuck at security in the airport.

"My mother said, ‘These are my most precious things. I can’t leave
them behind,”’ Barutyan said. "I told her, ‘That’s OK, take them,
and I’ll stay here.’ Because I wasn’t leaving those medals behind.
I’d been through too much to win them.”

It took a few hours, but finally Barutyan’s father found a friend who
knew someone at the KGB and arranged for a bribe to be paid to one of
the security henchmen at the airport. That way, both boxes made it.

It was a victory – the first of many after so many heartbreaks

"She’s arguably the most powerful single female gymnastics coach in
the U.S.,” Fong said. "And now, nobody’s going to take anything away
from her. Not uniforms, not recognition, not anything.”

As for all those Soviets who shunned Barutyan, well, Fong is sure
they know exactly how his wife is doing these days.

"I’m not trying to prove myself. I did that long ago,” Barutyan
said. "I just like to say, ‘See, you didn’t let me do it, but maybe I
can help somebody else do it for another country.’ My husband says
it’s sweet revenge. I don’t know if that sounds harsh or not.”

Armenian National Committee – Western Region

104 North Belmont Street, Suite 200

Glendale, California 91206

Phone: 818.500.1918 Fax: 818.246.7353

[email protected]

PRES S RELEASE
: August 23, 2007

Contact: Haig Hovsepian

Tel: (818) 500-1918

ANC-WR Board Member Meets with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger

Sacramento, CA – Armenian National Committee-Western Region Board Member
Hovannes Boghossian and his wife Silva Boghossian were invited to a
reception honoring the Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California. Over
100 people attended the event, including former State Assembly Speaker and
former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, California State Treasurer Bill
Lockyer and various other elected officials.

"Governor Schwarzenegger has provided strong moral leadership on the
Armenian Genocide," stated Boghossian. "We look forward to continuing our
work with the Governor’s office in giving voice to the Armenian American
community in the Golden State," the ANC-WR Board Member added.

Boghossian met with Governor Schwarzenegger to discuss issues of concern to
the Armenian American community in California. He thanked the Governor for
his strong support of human rights issues and his dedication to secure
recognition of the Armenian Genocide. On behalf of the ANC-WR Board of
Directors, Boghossian extended a warm invitation to the Governor to attend
the organization’s Annual Banquet. Boghossian also thanked the Governor’s
Executive Appointees at the reception for their tremendous dedication and
commitment to furthering the goals of his administration.

The event was hosted by Napoleon Brandford III and the Los Angeles Focus
Newspaper and James Sweeney Associates.

The Armenian National Committee – Western Region is the largest and most
influential Armenian American grassroots advocacy organization in the
Western United States. Working in coordination with a network of offices,
chapters, and supporters throughout the Western United States and affiliated
organizations around the country, the ANC-WR advances the concerns of the
Armenian American community on a broad range of issues.

BAYLOR GOES WORLDWIDE WITH MULTIPLE MISSIONS OPPORTUNITIES
by Ashley Lintelman, student newswriter, (254) 710-6805

Baylor University, TX
p;story=46399
Aug 20 2007

They have different majors, follow different career paths and come
from different backgrounds. But Baylor University students are united
by a commitment to missions and a desire to demonstrate God’s love
throughout the world. This year Baylor offered more than 10 extended
mission trip opportunities, challenging approximately 125 students
to use their classroom studies to serve others and reminding them of
Baylor’s mission – "to educate men and women for worldwide leadership
and service by integrating academic excellence and Christian commitment
within a caring community."

Baylor students, faculty and staff spent several weeks this summer
contributing to service projects and working to meet the needs
of people in Armenia, Honduras, Kenya and Mexico. Coordinated by
University Missions, Baylor’s Louise Herrington School of Nursing and
Baptist Student Ministries, each trip offered students in different
areas of study hands-on learning and mission opportunities.

University Missions was created through Baylor 2012, the university’s
10-year vision, to help Baylor students "understand life as a
stewardship and work as a vocation." The program allows students to
better understand how God might use their gifts to make a difference
in the world.

"At Baylor, we continue to focus on our Baptist heritage and the
Baptist tradition that is closely tied to missions, and it lives on
through our university," said Rebecca Kennedy, director for University
Missions at Baylor. "While encouraging students to participate in
church-based mission trips, Baylor also is offering discipline-specific
missions as an expression of our identity as a Christian university. We
want to create opportunities for students to understand and utilize
their God-given gifts and abilities in serving others and spreading
the love of Christ."

Armenia

Armenia is a country with a deep heritage of Christianity, located in
the middle of the largely unreached 10/40 window. Kennedy said Baylor’s
mission teams were focused on learning about and participating in
economic development that could truly impact an entire nation, while
helping spread the hope of the message of Christ and the richness of
discipleship as a believer.

During Baylor’s inaugural mission trip to Armenia this year, groundwork
was prepared for future ministry opportunities.

Students were pre-divided into three teams before they went into
Armenia. Dr. Walter Bradley, distinguished professor of engineering,
led Baylor’s engineering team of ECS majors who joined students from
two other universities to build two low-cost and energy-efficient
model homes for low-income families. With the assistance and contacts
of local Armenian-American builders, the team was successful in
accomplishing its goals and already has requests for 15 additional
homes.

The second Baylor team was geared toward business and leadership
development. Dr. Marlene Reed, visiting professor in management,
taught a leadership development course to Armenian business leaders
and has agreed to further partner with University Missions next year to
provide additional leadership for Baylor’s Outdoor Recreation/Tourism
team project. Students from that team will work to build partnerships
with local business leaders to create a sustainable tourism/outdoor
recreation business. Next summer, Baylor students and team leader Kelli
McMahan, assistant director of campus recreation and program director
for Outdoor Adventure Living-Learning Center at Baylor, will begin
a long-term task of mapping trails for hiking and biking in Armenia.

Maxey Parrish, lecturer in journalism at Baylor, led a general
ministry team to Armenia to provide social ministry and evangelism
to un-churched villagers throughout the country. The team assisted a
missionary and a local church through children’s Bible clubs, community
carnivals and manual labor, and was part of the first evangelical
Christian service to be conducted in the 1,500-year-old village.

Parrish said the team lived in villagers’ homes in Zarinja, Armenia,
and came as close as possible to experiencing 19th-century life.

There was no running water or sewage and all the food served was
grown at the home.

"My favorite part of every mission trip I take is seeing my students
exposed to situations in which the only way to succeed is to rely on
God and see Him at work," Parrish said. "Putting [the trip] in God’s
hands and leaving the results to Him, you can’t help but experience
Him in a different way."

As students served the Armenian people, they also got to see Biblical
sites such as Mount Ararat, the landing place of Noah’s Ark, and the
world’s oldest Christian cathedral.

Honduras

In Honduras, Kennedy said that Baylor students were challenged by
the faith and resolve of the people in the Central American country
who live out the gospel message in everyday life.

Baylor students have been serving in Honduras since 2002, beginning
with deaf education through the department of communication sciences
and disorders. This year five additional teams from engineering,
education, nursing, medical and general ministry participated in
the trip.

"Faculty and staff-led teams from various disciplines at Baylor
create ways for students to explore what it looks like to serve
God by using the skills and expertise from their major and field,"
Kennedy said. "Participating in discipline-specific teams often allows
students to have even more to offer as they serve in international
settings. Students also greatly benefit from learning and serving
alongside professionals in their respective fields, and this experience
can help shape a student’s view of their own future of service and
ministry."

Kennedy said Honduras continues to be an excellent location for
students to serve because of the many needs represented in Honduras.

Baylor students on the deaf education team were able to work with
students in the only deaf school in Honduras, while team leader Lori
Wrzesinski, director of Baylor’s American Sign Language program,
focused on teaching English as a Second Language to Honduras’ deaf
school teachers. This year Wrzesinski had her first graduating ESL
class, Kennedy said.

The second part of the team, led by Nancy Pfanner, lecturer
in communication sciences and disorders, assisted a non-profit
organization in hosting an annual camp for deaf and hearing-impaired
children.

"Each year has been a success," Kennedy said.

The medical and nursing teams provided relief and assistance to local
medical clinics. Baylor students gave immunizations to local villagers
each day and used medical supplies to meet the needs of impoverished
communities. Students had the opportunity to interact with villagers
and experience real-life needs of underprivileged people.

Andrew Pham, a senior biology major from Frisco, said the people
in Honduras re-emphasized that there is more to life than money and
materialistic desires.

"Their happiness spawned from the relationships developed between
friends and family. I believe our society needs to be reminded of
that as we all seek our own sources of happiness," Pham said.

As an aspiring physician, Pham said he hopes to one day be able to go
back to Honduras or other indigent countries and set up "more efficient
medical infrastructure to educate citizens in preventative healthcare."

Other teams included an education/general ministry team, led by
Baylor education professors Randy Wood and Rick Strot and Baylor BSM
director Clif Mouser, which provided Bible stories, manual labor,
health care and ESL training for teachers at a recently established
Christian school at a church in a small Honduran village. A Baylor
engineering team, in the meantime, was in the country to construct
a micro hydro-generator and install a water purification system,
led by Dr. Brian Thomas, lecturer in engineering at Baylor’s School
of Engineering and Computer Science.

Kenya

For the third year in a row, 93 Baylor faculty, staff and students
traveled to Kenya, the largest number of participants to date.

"Because of the large number of participants many different activities
[could] be accomplished," Kennedy said.

Baylor students had their perspective challenged, Kennedy said, as
they encountered the HIV/AIDS epidemic as an individual rather than a
statistic. But they also learned from believers with a rich deep faith.

Led by Dr. Randall Bradley, director of Baylor’s Center for Christian
Music Studies, and Dr. Sharyn Dowd, associate professor of religion,
Baylor students used music to reach orphans and neighboring villages,
while representatives from University Baptist Church in Waco built
partnerships with Kenyan churches to provide social ministry within
village communities.

Students from Baylor’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary
trained future Kenyan leaders in HIV/AIDS education, evangelism,
church leadership and community development, as well as business
sustainability. The teams worked with several faith-based organizations
in order to accomplish their goals.

Several freshmen and sophomore students provided general ministry to
Kenya’s HIV/AIDS victims, orphans and widows. Despite the language
barrier, students played games and learned songs with Kenyan children
during their lunch time.

Tiffani Riggers, a graduate assistant for University Missions and
a team leader with fellow grad student Marquette Bugg, said often
parents are too tired to play with and love on their children due
to long daily struggles to get money to feed their families. Simple
actions, such as giving individual attention to the children, allowed
team members to show God’s love by filling that parent-to-child void.

"Knowing that spiritually we made an impact is awesome, and we had a
great reminder that we don’t always see the fruit of our works until
we are in heaven," Riggers said.

Also in Kenya, engineering students, faculty and staff continued
to provide practical solutions for real-world needs, such as the
installation of solar panels in a deaf school with no electricity, the
construction of windmills to provide electricity for a school and the
designing of a foot bridge to be built over a river in eastern Kenya.

In 2006 Baylor students created a non-profit organization called
Omega Kids, which provides resources to Kenyan pastors who minister to
orphaned street children. This year Omega Kids donated money and helped
a local pastor purchase land for a dormitory to be built specifically
for street children.

Riggers reflected that the time in Kenya showed how much Americans
take for granted, "from the amount and type of food that we choose to
eat, to the clothes we wear." Riggers described the desperate need,
the incredible joy and indelible hope that the Kenyan people had,
even while living in abject poverty.

"It was a very special time for me, as I felt that our Baylor students
were seeing how much they are a part of something bigger than just
a mission trip," Riggers said. "It was wonderful to get to worship
God in a Kenyan church with my brothers and sisters and know that
even though we may have been speaking different languages, we were
worshipping the same God."

Baylor’s Louise Herrington School of Nursing, located in Dallas,
also offered Baylor nursing students an excellent way to get involved
in missions, as well as obtain hands-on experience in their field of
study. Lori Spies, mission coordinator for the nursing school, said the
growth of students on all levels during the trip is very impressive.

"It is gratifying to see our students spread the love and care of
Jesus Christ while they deliver much-needed health care," Spies said.

Nursing students participated in the University Missions’ trip
to Chuloteca, Honduras, providing health checkups to every child
attending the host church’s school. Students put together seminars
on health, hygiene, nutrition and sexually transmitted infections
at both public and private schools. A Baylor graduate student led an
extensive question and answer session specifically for women both at
the church and throughout the community.

David Kemerling, director of student ministries for the nursing
school, said faculty, staff and students were a "fresh set of eyes"
for the community.

"The question we ask ourselves throughout the trip is, ‘How can we
live differently once back in the U.S.?’ I believe, for students,
the trip puts value into nursing in preparation for their future
careers," Kemerling said. "It builds confidence and gives experience."

Mexico

Baylor’s nursing school also continued a 30-year tradition of students
providing care in Juarez, Mexico. While in Juarez, students set
up free clinics inside a local church and offered complete health
check-ups to assess the general needs of children and adults.

Medication, prayer and health education were often provided. Clinics
also are a way for the local church to make life-long contacts with
people in their community, helping them to continue to reach those
in need.

"It is a practical exercise in servant leadership, improving health
care and gaining skills and expertise as nurses," Spies said.

Another trip is planned for August in Mexico City, where faculty,
staff and students will continue to administer health check-ups to
the housing community in Mexico City.

Baptist Student Ministries

Baptist Student Ministries (BSM) is a specialized ministry of
the Baptist General Convention of Texas aimed at Texas college and
university campuses. The BSM offers students the chance to serve not
only their community but also the world around them throughout the
year. Missions and showing God’s love to others is heavily emphasized
through different programs offered by the BSM.

The Baylor BSM hosts Missions Week activities for Baylor students
to learn about the locations where missionaries serve, as well as
discover areas they can provide life-long changes in the lives of
those less fortunate. This year Missions Week hosted more than 20
missionaries who spoke in more than 40 classrooms at Baylor. A Global
Village was set up next to the Student Union Building and featured
ethnic student organizations, ministry organizations, international
students and missionaries. Baylor faculty, staff and students could
come and learn ways they might participate in mission work.

The BSM participates in weekly community ministries such as room
visitation at Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center in Waco, a partnership
with the Waco Association of Retarded Citizens for special needs
ministry, children’s tutorials at two community locations and
children’s missions in three Waco apartment complexes. These are
available to students during the school year.

GoNowMissions is a student missions program the BSM has provided to
Baylor students since 1946. Through GoNowMissions students have the
opportunity to raise money and serve others for either a semester or
for a summer. The program builds leadership, helps enrich student’s
spiritual walk and teaches them about selfless love and service to
others. This year’s giving goal was $4,000, and seven Baylor students
are currently serving during the 2007 summer both nationally and
internationally.

In addition to sponsoring a team to Honduras, the BSM partnered with
Habitat for Humanity to construct houses and provide practical relief
to the people of New Orleans. These trips held specific purposes to
meet the needs of the people in that region.

The BSM also took a trip specifically for international students at
Baylor. The trip offered the opportunity for international students
to see Texas and get to know each other and the BSM staff better.

This year there were seven different countries represented among the
Baylor students. The group stayed in churches as they toured Texas,
stopping at the Alamo, SeaWorld and the Houston Rodeo. During this
time, students were able to talk about their Baylor experiences,
their cultural heritage and discuss spiritual needs on a more personal
level with BSM staff.

For more information about University Missions at Baylor, contact
Rebecca Kennedy at [email protected].

For more information about Baylor’s Louise Herrington School of Nursing
missions, contact David Kemerling at [email protected] or
Lori Spies at (214) 818-7982.

For more information about the Baptist Student Ministries at Baylor,
contact Rae Wright at [email protected].

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Aug 19 2007

US Jewish group fires official over `genocide’ stance

A respected US Jewish group has fired its New England regional
director after he publicly supported Armenian claims of genocide at
the hands of the Ottoman Empire and demanded that the organization
endorse the charges, according to a report in the US media.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), primarily known for fighting
anti-Semitism, fired Andrew Tarsy on Friday, the Boston Globe
reported. Tarsy told the newspaper that the organization’s stance is
"morally indefensible." The paper further reported that Tarsy’s
firing prompted a backlash among local Jewish leaders against the
ADL’s leadership.

"I’m devastated to hear the news," Ronne Friedman, senior rabbi at
Temple Israel, the largest synagogue in Boston, was quoted as saying
by the paper. "I think it’s an inexcusable behavior on the part of
the national office."

Tarsy said he had been in conflict with ADL leadership for several
weeks, although he added: "I regret at this point any
characterization of the genocide that I made publicly other than to
call it a genocide." Steve Grossman, a businessman and a former ADL
regional board member, said he predicted the firing of Tarsy "will
precipitate wholesale resignations from the regional board, a
meaningful reduction in the ADL’s regional fund-raising and will
further exacerbate the ADL’s relationship with the non-Jewish
community coming out of this crisis around the Armenian genocide."

In a response letter published in various community newspapers across
the New England region, the ADL said it has never denied "the
massacres of hundreds of thousands of Armenians — and by some
accounts more than 1 million — at the hands of the Ottoman Empire in
1915-1918" and that the "the Turkish government must do more than it
has to confront its history and to seek reconciliation with the
Armenian people."

But it added that legislative efforts outside of Turkey are
"counterproductive to the goal of having Turkey itself come to grips
with its past," explaining that it takes no position on a resolution
in the US House of Representatives that calls on the US
administration to recognize the alleged genocide.

It also said it cannot ignore concerns of the Jewish community in
Turkey, which "has clearly expressed to us its concerns about the
impact of congressional action on them, and we cannot ignore those
concerns." It also noted its desire to protect the interests of
Israel, which considers Turkey a strategic ally in a hostile region.

Turkey categorically rejects characterization of the World War I
events as genocide, saying both that the death toll is inflated and
that as many Turks were killed when Armenians took up arms against
the Ottoman Empire and the civilian population of eastern Anatolia in
collaboration with the invading Russian army, hoping to create an
Armenian state in part of eastern Anatolia.

20.08.2007

Today’s Zaman Ýstanbul

ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT TO SUBMIT AMENDED VERSION OF PACKAGE OF SEVERAL BILLS TO NATION ASSEMBLY FOR DISCUSSION

Noyan Tapan
Aug 17, 2007

YEREVAN, AUGUST 17, NOYAN TAPAN. At the August 16 sitting, the Armenian
government made amendments in the RA government’s Decision No 1560-N
on Approval of Technical Regulations on Meat and Meat Products of
October 19, 2006, which is in particular conditioned by the necessity
to bring the safety indices prescribed by the regulations into line
with sanitary and epidemiologic rules and norms of the Hygienic
Requirements to the Safety of Food Raw Material and Foodstuffs and
to the Food Value. The decision also proceeds from the necessity to
make amendments, which are conditioned by the procedure of certifying
the conformity and are in compliance with legislative requirements
of the decision’s provisions.

In accordance with the RA Water Code and the RA Law on the National
Water Program, the government decided to appoint the RA ministry
of agriculture as the authorized state governance body in charge
of organization and implementation of measures aimed at preventing
and eliminating the harmful impact of river water. The minister of
agriculture was instructed to submit, within three months, a proposal
to the RA government regarding measures to ensure the use of powers
stipulated by the decision. The RA ministers of territorial governance,
urban development and environmental protection, and the chairman of
the State Committee of the Real Estate Cadastre adjunct to the RA
government were instructed to present, within 15 days, the necessary
information to the RA minister of agriculture and to assist with the
work on development of the program on protection of settlements,
areas of economic value and citizens’ property from the risk of
river flooding.

By making redistribution in the 2007 state budget of the RA and some
amendments in the RA government’s decision No 1851-N of December 21,
2006, the government allocated 40.2 mln drams (about 0 thousand) from
its 2007 reserve fund to the Syunik regional administration with the
aim of financing the construction of buildings for families that live
in wooden houses in the village of Lernadzor (Syunik region).

At the siiting, the government approved the Program of Geological
Prospecting Work stipulated in the RA Law on the 2007 State Budget
of the RA.

According to the RA Law on International Agreements of the RA, the
government approved the proposal for signing the Agreement on Free
Trade between the governments of Armenia and Egypt.

By another decision, amendments and additions were made,
in accordance with the RA Law on Archival Activity, in the RA
government’s Decision No 351 on Approval of the Exemplary List of
Archival Documents with Indication of Their Retention Period of March
9, 2006, which is also conditioned by the necessity to clarify the
current legislation. Particularly, taking into account the fact that
limitation of actions does not apply to the requests about return of
deposits that depositors file to banks. These amendments and additions
have also been made due to the fact that the currently prescribed
period of keeping bank documents about deposits is not sufficient in
case of demanding these deposits.

The governrment approved the bill on making an amendment to the RA
Law on State Registration of Property Rights, which will be submitted
to the National Assembly. Adoption of the bill is conditioned by the
necessity to specify the provision on period of state registration of
rights, which is stipulated by the indicated law. In particular, it
is proposed calculating the period for presenting the rights arising
from property-related transactions for state registration not from
the day of signing the transaction but from the day of their being
certified by the notary.

In accordance with the RA Law on State Administrative Institutions, the
government made amendments in the RA government’s decision No 1917-N
of Novemeber 28, 2002. The adoption of this decision is conditioned,
in particular, by the necessity to bring the decision’s provision
into line with requirements of the RA Judicial Code, the RA Law on
Bringing the RA Judicial Code into Force and the RA Law on Court
Service. The decision also envisages creating an Information and PR
Unit at the RA Ministry of Justice.

In accordance with the RA Law on Legal Acts, the government made an
amendment to the RA government’s Decision No 1112-N on Approval of the
Order of Transferring Students from One Higher Educational Institution
to Another of July 14, 2005, based on which such a transfer may be done
without permission of the RA minister of education and science. The
decision will increase autonomy of higher educational institutions
and allow to make efficient and independent decisions on transfer of
students from one higher educational institution to another.

In accordance with the RA Law on State Administrative Institutions,
the government decided to take the area (covering 286 square meters
and with the balance sheet cost of 1,269,268 drams) on the 4th floor
of the building at 25 Pushkin Street (Yerevan) belonging to the
Staff of Rescue Service of Armenia state administrative institution
of the RA Ministry of Territorial Governance and to transfer this
area to the Staff of the RA Ministry of Territorial Governance state
administrative institution.

Pursuant to Article 53 Part 4 of the RA Law on Rules of Procedure of
the RA National Assembly, the government made a decision to submit
to the RA National Assembly the amended version of the package
consisting of the bill on making amendments and additions to the RA
Law on Circulation of Poisonous Substances and Explosive Suvstances
and Devices, the bill on making amendments and additions to the RA
law on State Duty and the bill on making amendments to the RA Law
on Licensing.

By another decision, the government approved the governmenal
conclusions about several bills submitted on deputies’s initiative –
these conclusions will be presented to the RA NA.

The government approved the temporary schemes of using the lands of
the Vagharshapat city community (Armavir region) and the Hankavan
rural community (Kotayk region). Decision were made to change the
categories of these lands, as well as of lands in the Nor Geghi rural
community of Kotayk region.

NT was informed from the RA Government Information and PR Department
that in accordance with the RA Law on Civil Service, the government
made a decision to appoint Armen Shahnazarian the head of the staff
of the RA Ministry of Finance and Economy.

REBECCA CURTIS, AUTHOR

Gothamist, NY
p
Aug 16 2007

Of Rebecca Curtis, Time Out New York has said, "This is a writer who
astonishes with her versatility of styles and techniques," calling
her stories, "Wise and often emotionally devastating" The Village
Voice declared that her debut short story collection Twenty Grand,
"Showcases the talent of one of the more promising short story writers
in America today." And a boy who Rebecca had a crush on at 18 said,
after being poisoned by her, " This is the worst thing that’s ever
happened to me." Let’s see if Curtis, who certainly is as talented
and witty as the reviewers say, can talk her way out of that one!

Have you had any encounters with shysters like in your story Alpine
Slide, burned down a house like in Hungry Self, or witnessed the
death of another under similar circumstances to The Witches?

No. I wish I had though. That would be hot.

In your story Monsters, frightening beasts exist and a family must
choose which member to offer up for them to eat. How do you feel your
own family would handle this situation?

My family argues a lot and the tide really shifts. So I think it
would be whoever was in the doghouse the most recently. Like, whoever
accidentally threw away the mail that seemed like credit card offers
but was really bills, or whoever ate the ice cream and put back an
empty container, or you know, whoever forgot to clean their hair from
the shower drain. It could be anyone.

What was the most common reader reaction to this piece?

Most people seemed to find this story stupid. I know several reviewers
felt the collection would be better without it. Maybe they’re right. A
few people like it. One guy came up to me after a reading and thanked
me for writing it. I think he felt like in his family he’d be the
one to be eaten.

I liked it. I thought that the pieces that were less grounded in
reality brought an enjoyable sense of variety to the collection. Do
you often find yourself delving into the absurd?

Well, thanks. I do write absurd things a lot, often in my notebook,
and most of them are really silly and never see the light to day. But
that’s a good thing because they really are silly.

What sort of silly things do you write?

Oh, they’re too silly.

Do you ever feel torn between writing silly things and writing
serious things?

No more than I feel torn between deciding on whether to have oatmeal
or toast and eggs for breakfast. And I do feel torn about that,
all the time, because I like them both so much! Oatmeal is sweet and
satisfies that carbohydrate craving, but toast and eggs are salty and
buttery. In the end I just console myself that if I have toast and eggs
for breakfast today, I can choose oatmeal for breakfast tomorrow. Or,
you know, if I really get desperate, oatmeal for dinner.

When did you begin to write?

I wrote my first sentence at age 4! But I didn’t publish my first
book until last month.

What was the worst letter of rejection that you’ve ever gotten?

Once I sent a story to Harper’s through their slush pile. The story
was about a girl who, one day when her family is out of the house
on some errand, licks the living room rug. She’s just curious about
what it would taste like. For some reason–the fact that her whole
family has walked on it–she gets addicted to licking the rug, that
one and the other one in the house, and rugs in general, also in
other people’s houses. She tries to keep the habit secret, because
she knows it’s gross, and she’s ashamed, but one day her brother
sees her doing it… and things go badly for her from there, she
gets sent to an institution for other girls who also lick rugs. It
is, as you can see, absurd. Anyway, Harper’s didn’t like the story,
and the rejection letter said: Dear Rebecca Curtis: Thank you for
your insight on licking rugs!

At first, did your writing lean toward the more serious or the silly?

My first published stories were fairly short, and silly. When
I say short, I mean from 200 to 3,000 words. One was the story I
mentioned about the girl who becomes addicted to licking rugs–that
was a pretty developed tale of maybe 3000 words. Some shorts about a
man who wishes that one day a man would be president because in the
world of the story America has only ever had female presidents.–a
longer one about a man whose girlfriend goes with him when he needs
to get an abortion, and he’s upset because the nurses at the clinic
are a bit contemptuous of his carelessness and irresponsibility. I’m
sure these stories would be found annoyingly & blatantly political by
many people! But I had fun writing them. One was about a young lawyer
whose wife gets picked to bear the Messiah and a hot Arab guy comes
down to impregnate her, but the lawyer can’t protest, or even watch,
because it’s God. So I guess the answer is ‘silly.’

Have you had any personal experience similar to your story Twenty
Grand, where you lose something or someone only to discover their
true value afterward?

No. Someone? You mean like, break up with someone and then realize it
was true love? Are you projecting an interesting personal experience
onto the story…? Sounds intriguing.

No, I meant more of along the lines of, "You don’t know what you’ve
got until it’s gone," which could apply to a valuable coin or an
elderly relative whose kindness you never reciprocated. Have you had
an experience along those lines?

Once my mom had a set of "tricky dogs" that were magnetized and came
inside a special matchbox. The dogs were tiny, one black, one white,
terriers, and they stuck to each other’s feet, and I liked to play with
them. The matchbox they "rested inside" when I wasn’t playing with
them was a bit fragile. Also these "tricky dogs" were my mother’s,
not mine, and they lived inside her high bureau, the top part where
she kept special things like jewelry and scarves. Well one day I was
lying on her bed playing with the "tricky dogs" and I felt antsy and
busted the matchbox they lived in. I just pressed it too hard and
it smooshed flat. Then my mother ran in the room, saw the smooshed
match box, and started crying and screaming that the tricky dogs were
antique, and that now they were ruined. Being about five years old,
I didn’t quite understand and protested that the dogs were just fine,
and she explained to me, still angry and sobbing, that in order to be
of value, the dogs had to come with an original un-smooshed matchbox,
etc. I think my reaction, interior at least, was to conclude that
the world, my mother, and the notion of antiques were all dumb,
because it seemed senseless to me to care so much about whether
a match box was flattened or not. But then, at five I was a jerk,
and lots of things seemed illogical, including both my parents.

Do you have any other examples of being a jerk at young age?

Sure. Once I poisoned a guy I had a crush on, because he didn’t like
me. I wasn’t that young though. I was eighteen.

Poisoning! How’d you manage that?

Well, I can’t give away my methods. But, he was very sick for one
day exactly–so sick he couldn’t leave his room. After that he was OK
again. I think he wasn’t sure what had happened at first–he thought
he just ate something bad. When he found out he’d been poisoned–which
he found out only because I, and my friends who’d helped me, started
giggling in the halls–and then my friends felt guilty and ran to
him and confessed–and then of course, having been implicated, I also
had to confess–he was very mad. So angry, in fact, he threatened to
call the police. Also to sue me. When he threatened to sue me, I was
upset. I had no money! His eyes were very big and brown, and he seemed
very confused–in addition to angry–about the whole thing. He was a
really nice guy. Co-captain, maybe, of our university’s water polo
team, and an excellent and avid tennis player, windsurfer, sailor,
para-sailor, golfer, you get the picture. He was pre-med. He wanted
to help people. Whenever he’d had a summer job, in his life, it was
always volunteering–helping autistic kids play games, for example, at
a special camp for them, unpaid, or volunteering to help poor people
by administering shots to them, and other things like that. When I
went in to apologize to him, after he told he might call the police,
he said, "This is the worst thing that ever happened to me." I said,
"Really?" And he stared at me and said, "Yes. Absolutely. This is the
worst thing that’s ever happened to me." It was then that I began to
giggle uncontrollably.

How do you feel about it now?

I got an issue of my university’s alumni magazine and his picture was
in the back. He was still handsome, although his hair had thinned, and
he’d gained weight, and had pudge-face. He looked happy. He’s a doctor,
and involved in several outreach organizations, mostly religiously
affiliated. And he’s married. I think the picture was announcing all
these things. When I saw the picture, I was glad that he was happy. And
I thought: Could I poison him again? I was full of nostalgia.

Tell me about your novel in progress.

It’s a historical novel about an auntie’s escape from the Armenian
genocide. She was a young wife, with a newborn baby. Her husband got
sent to work on the railroads (then killed) with the other Armenian
men. A lot of Armenian women were just throwing themselves down
wells, rather than dishonor themselves by fraternizing with the
enemy. But this auntie, she went for it and married a Turkish man,
just to save her life. And her baby’s, of course. She became the 5th
woman in his harem, and rode with across Turkey on horseback. The
woman was my grandmother’s best friend, and semi-raised my mother,
who’s Armenian. She wrote a 5,000 word, very journalistic account
of her experience. My mother gave me the document when I was 14. She
thought I might want to write about it someday. Right now I’m doing
background research, and interviewing the woman’s daughters.

You’ve traveled to Europe to research your book, taught at the
University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas, and grew up in New
Hampshire. How do these many locals compare to New York?

The rent is cheaper.

Could you share an "only in New York" moment?

This one is complicated, but: my roommate is dating a guy, who went
to school (Yale) with my friend…and who it turns out was childhood
best friends with her ex’s best friend… because they shared a summer
house in Connecticut together. Meanwhile, they’re all novelists.

Given the opportunity, what would you change about New York?

The rent would be cheaper.

Under what circumstances would you leave New York?

Osama gets nukes.

What do you consider a perfect day of recreation in New York?

Last Sunday I walked up to Prospect Park with my sister and her
fiance. We jogged the 3 and 1/2 mile loop around it, then stopped in
a couple used bookstores and one swanky food co-op on our way back
home. We drank some creamy ice-coffees, then walked to a barbecue
in Carrol gardens in the backyard of a nice hedge-fund manager’s
brownstone. He claimed not to read books (the bookshelves were empty,
and one room upstairs was full of boxed tomes) but when I quizzed
him later, he knew all the answers. After the barbecue, a bunch of
us went to the Brooklyn Inn and drank cokes.

You can see Rebecca read on September 12th, 2007 at 8 PM at the Happy
Ending Lounge 302 Broome Street, btwn Forsyth & Eldridge Streets New
York, NY.

SERGE SARGSYAN AND ROBERT KOCHARYAN HAVEN’T SOLVED THE UNDERLYING ISSUE, AND GALUST IS NOT A BAD GUY

Lragir, Armenia
Aug 16 2007

The president and the prime minister of Armenia, according to the
leader of the Democratic Way Party Manuk Gasparyan, have not solved the
underlying problem of the future of the government. Manuk Gasparyan
said on August 16 at the Friday club he doubts that the government
will name Serge Sargsyan president as long as Robert Kocharyan keeps
this question up in the air.

"The conference of the Republican Party was cancelled due to Robert
Kocharyan because there are issues which have to be settled with
Serge Sargsyan. What will Robert Kocharyan be doing after the
election? Serge Sargsyan has not answered the question whether
Robert Kocharyan will be prime minister or not? Now he is reluctant
to answer. It will be bad if he fails to answer because no candidate
might be named," Manuk Gasparyan says for Serge Sargsyan. In this case,
perhaps in his subjective opinion, Vardan Oskanyan or the head of the
president administration Armen Gevorgyan may be named president. Manuk
Gasparyan thinks so. However, he also thinks, for example, that the
ARF Dashnaktsutyun which stated to name president may fail to and
support Serge Sargsyan with some reservations.

"I am sure 90 percent that the ARF Dashnaktsutyun will name no
president. They only want to boost their importance in the government,
to vote for Serge Sargsyan. As far as I can see, the General Meeting of
the ARF Dashnaktsutyun will eventually endorse Serge Sargsyan with some
reservations. If Robert Kocharyan okays, of course. Today much depends
on Robert Kocharyan," Manuk Gasparyan says. But he also says that power
is gradually moving from Robert Kocharyan to Serge Sargsyan, and the
officials and bootlicking oligarchs who pledged allegiance to him and
had served Levon Ter-Petrosyan earlier are now going to Serge Sargsyan.

However, Manuk Gasparyan doubts this as well. He says there is
no certainty in the government camp regarding the government’s
candidate. In this connection he advises Galust Sahakyan to apologize
to the opposition who compares the meeting of the leaders with a
meeting of mice who want to find a way of ridding of the cat. Manuk
Gasparyan says if Sahakyan compares the opposition with mice, he
should compare the government with rats because the rats are more
aggressive. "If he compares the opposition with mice, he should
consider their meetings and their candidate as a gathering of rats,
frauds, cheaters, bootlickers," Manuk Gasparyan says. But he also says
Galust Sahakyan is not a bad guy and his bad reputation is because
in the previous years he was responsible for the wrongdoing of the
government, but now Galust is "out".

AMERICAN JEWS HAVE BEEN DEPRIVED OF PATRONAGE OF WATERTOWN AUTHORITIES IN MASSACHUSETTS

arminfo
2007-08-17 09:34:00

The Town Council of Watertown, Massachusetts, unanimously decided to
cut the connection with the Jewish All-American organization Alliance
against Terror, as the latter doesn’t recognize the Armenian Genocide.

Radio Liberty reports that the Hay Dat office in East Massachusetts
welcomes the decision of Watertown’s Town Council. Sharistan Melkonian,
Chairman of the Hay Dat office, hopes that this step will make the
Jewish organization and its leader Abraham Foxman change their position
on the Armenian Genocide and give up their efforts exerted against
recognition of the Armenian Genocide by Congress. The statement of
Marilyn Devaney, a member of the Town Council, runs that the Town
Council is concerned about the fact that the Alliance against Terror
organization denies the the horrible Armenian Genocide of 1915-1923,
therefore the Town Council can’t communicate with such organization
any longer.

HENCEFORTH, HEART SURGERIES TO BE FREE OF CHARGE FOR SOCIALLY UNPROVIDED STRATA OF POPULATION

Noyan Tapan
Aug 15 2007

YEREVAN, AUGUST 15, NOYAN TAPAN. By the decision of the RA government,
heart surgeries will be free of charge for the members of those
families, which have 36 and higher points of vulnarability, registered
in the Vulnarability Estimation System. According to the information
provided to a Noyan Tapan correspondent by Ruslana Gevorgian, the
Advisor of the RA Minister of Health, this year the government has
allocated 170 million drams (about 500 thousand U.S. dollars) for
performing the heart surgeries of 110 patients.

Ruslana Gevorgian mentioned that patients can turn to any hospital
performing heart surgeries, where after checking the authenticity
of the document introduced by the patient, the specially formed
commissions will make a decision on performing a surgery.